>> just last week, be spoke at length about this. >> but who has the -- >> the senate, the president continue to stand in the way of the people's priorities. who's helping and who's hurting? tonight on "crossfire." welcome to "crossfire." i'm -- >> in josh josh, members of congress who have very different answers are -- you know, i can't take it serally. to grow in the middle class. this is a president who has presided over the worst economic recovery since the great

depression. who's suing louisiana, and whose in policies ignore everything we've learned. is have been a good healthy economy. that's the sad fact. first of all, there was no new flawed planted in the ground. he's been talking since the moment -- actually since he ran for president. to balance the budgets in a response way, reduce the deficit.

those are precisely the things that he accomplished, so i'm pleased to know you agree. >> the difference quite simply is after five years, he still has not learned how to reach across the aisle. he was willing to sit down -- >> i've said this before, and i guess this is a tribute to you. you were a different kind of speaker. you were able to bring your caucus along, and get things done. congressman, i'm sure you have a lot to respond to. >> yes, i do. very specific question. u

ubs. >> do you great deal that inequality is a problem? >> yes, it's getting worse. you would think they weren't in power. the fact is the democrats have the house and senate. they did a $787 billion stimulus plan, the cash for clunkers, all these things that didn't grow the economy. they exacerbated the problem. we have literally more than 66,000 federal workers on the federal payroll. the deficit has just exploded. the pope actually blamed income and equality, and rush limbaugh

quickly denounced the pope saying, quote, this is just pure marxism out of the mouth of the pope. who is right? >> you've got to look to the state of utah. i don't know what it is in california. i think it's 8.7% or so, and you look at what we're doing, we have a responsible government, we have a predictable regulatory environment. we do a good job of educating the kids. we have a good tax break. we're doing all the things -- >> it sounds like you're agreeing with the pope then? >> you look at the result, we have less disparity in the income that can most any other state. we would love to have the pope. he can come to provo anytime. >> you have a deep and personal

passion about helping the poor, and i suspect you resonated deeply with pope francis ooze comments which were very powerful and compelling in many ways, but i'm puzzled. wise in the last 30 years we've had dramatic economic growth. i was very fortunate i was there with reagan and with clinton. in the case of the clinton administration when we worked with them, from 1993 to 200, one of the very four people of poverty left poverty, and huge economic growth. about 3 1/2, 4 million people, xw a million and a half people, lost their jobs. why is it so hard to look at the things that have work. try to find a way and say, which of these pieces really worked.

find out what are their patterns? and how can we replicate it. >> do you remember you swore me in? >> i did. >> and we got a lot done during that period. maybe you ought to come back. i know exactly what works. i remember clearly there was a surplus when president clinton left. when president bush came in and the two wars and the economic policies and tax cuts for the welte. that surplus went down down down. thanks god he put forth the

recovery plan. not one single remember voted for it, but believe you me, it turned the economy around. and he compromised, he worked with republicans. i wanted more in that, and it worked. >> let me ask you one specific idea, which i'll confess up front, i have a personal interest in this. just an idea. we have spent $500 billion in the last five years on unemployment compensation. i would love to see that tied directly to training and learns programs, so that we're willing to say to people, look, we'll help you for 99 weeks if needed, but we expect at a minimum, an associate's degree, job training, this will become the largest workforce training program in the world. we spent $500 billion. what would your reaction to be to the idea of trying to turn unemployment compensation into a work training program? >> let me just say if we don't

do a budget by the end of the year there will be over a million people without compensation. so we have to do something. so let me just say this. i think unemployment compensation should be looked at, not in terms of any contingent hopefully we will create even though the private sector right now is creating hundreds of thousands of jobs every month. so yeah, we need to not make it contingent upon these rims, but i think we need to invest in education. nchts every time we can't get obama care right, he's creating uncertainty, and -- to hire new people unless they have that

uncertainty. >> yes, he is. >> we have a house of representatives that will not allow any an economic growth. >> i have passed bills that pass out of the house of representatives by overwhelming majorities that are sitting in the senate. we have 150 bills that we pass in the house of representatives that have gone over to the senate and never gotten a vote. that's just fundamentally -- >>'m not seeing one come to the floor of the house. the -- the first four years submitted a budget. there is not a single person, democrat or republican, house member or senate member that ever voted. when it came to a budget this year, he waited until after he went through the process. >> we're going to continue this conversation, and i want to bring it to -- on the same topic, i want to ask congressman

chaff its whether the republican house is wasting your time, your tax dollars and all the wrong priorities. like a government shutdown, for instance, so we'll -- well, you just made some news there. >> 24 billion in economic growth. we're aig. and we're here. to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow. from the families of aig, happy holidays.

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class. they're actually holding the middle class back, voting seven times. 800,000 jobs, shutting down the government to the tune of there 24 billion, and nearly defaulting. just instead they held useless hearings to impeach the president. so, congressman, we touched on this before we went to break, but i want to come back to it. what exactly -- where are the priorities of house republicans? i talked about the hearings that took place yesterday about a patient -- with the president. we have a few days left in this year. we need to avoid another government shutdown. we need to make sure that unemployment insurance is extended, but here's what congress has managed to accomplish. you've changed the specks. you shut down the government, you increased taxes for seasonal

flu vacenes. it's a pretty important body of government in our democrat i can can't. >> we've passed more than 150 bills. i disagree with just about sever you want there, as a conservative, taking the metric of how many before you passed. what are the priorities bills? >> no down. when the position starts talking about minimum wage, you have to look at what the president is actually doing. he's exacerbating the problem. i worked as a gardener in

arizona, and then i realized i was a white collar person, so i decided to get a job at the general cinema corporation, wearing my bowtie and powder blue coat. i realized i wasn't even making minimum wage. guess what? i was exempt from the minimum wage, but i was a kid. i didn't care. i learned how to work. every time the president decides that he wants to just raise the minimum wage, you're going to take this whole group of youth and prevent them from getting an opportunity, because employers are going to look at that and say if it's going to cost more for labor -- >> can i do one follow up? that's never proven to be true. many, many ceos, many of those ceos great with it, going all the way back. >> and if they want to retain good quality employees, they'll make sure thif a good

competitive market. in arizona they don't have an issue there. we have to make sure we are investing in education and getting training. >> i absolutely agree with you. we should talk about that, too. next week, physician, project was originally launched by google. similarly there's a site, which has seven different languages that are free. you can take as many hours as you want for free. 378,000 hours of lectures, and learning systems. 10 million people a month. this is part of why unemployment

compensation, but at the same time to get it so the poorest neighborhoods could break out and dramatic increases, and you will of this is now available for free. >> remember, there is a digital divide in america. many people don't have access to computers because of their economic status. and so, yes, it would be wonderful if everyone -- and i just have to digress for a minute and say i think it's very terrible you can only apply online. i have to just say, once we have a country that is fully computerized, and that everyone has access to computers, then --

>> let me built on that. in 1995, i was ridiculed even by some republicans. and in fact governor -- nowadays, you can do that on a smartphone. even if the poorest -- there's a if we can find a way, that's the problem. we have an entire program that spends lots of money. i'm happy to work with you to find a way to get the kids on smartphones if you think it makes sense for both them and for their parents who might be unemployed to figure out a way to access all of the free learning in a way that changes the whole game. >> i think we have to make sure that our children are prepared for the 21 century and world world as it exists. that is making sure that they

can compete with children and adults around the world. but we have to remember, we have to invest in public education. i mean, that's the bottom line. also in early childhood education and in preschool. by the time a young person from a house that has a very low income, a poor family, by the time they get into kindergarten, first grade, they're way, way, way behind. we have to start. >> i need you to help work with me. the obama administration is starting more economic aid projects in afghanistan than in the history of afghanistan. on the one handled he says we're pulling out. we got $30 billion sitting over there. i cannot get this administration to pay attention to that. >> you and i agreed, this is one thing we do agree on. we need to bring our young men and women home and end this war in afghanistan. >> but they're starting, they're starting more projects than they ever have. $30 billion. you want money to go to the states to help educate kids. pull back that if you saiding, mr. president, and help us get

there. you have a bigger mega phone at the white house than i do. >> we have to nation build here and invest in education at home. send our troops home and end this war. there is no military solution. we need to get out of afghanistan. >> we're going on give $555 million in petroleum. >> if i may, everyone stay right here. this is fascinating and i think different than maybe some of our audience thought. next, the final question for both our guests. we want you at home to weigh in on our fireback question. do you think the minimum wage should be increased? tweet yes or no using hash tag "crossfire." stick with innovation.

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we're back with representatives barbara lee and representative. now it is time for the final question. you favor a higher minimum wage than the president. >> let me say first of all, $7.25 an hour, can anyone live off that? secondly, i just have to say, 60% of people on food assistance are working. they're part of the working poor. we need a living wage, a living wage based on regional differences and yes, we need to raise the minimum wage to $10. but we need a living wage where

peel can live and take care of their families and live the american dream. it would cost us less on the back end if all we care about are the economics of it. when you look at people who are working, needing medicaid and food assistance, that's wrong will. >> i worry about the if he can on the youthful of the 100% of the work force, only about 3% fall into the minimum wage category. of them 2/3 are part time. we're talking about 16 and 17-year-olds learning about the value of the dollar. i found it ironic that last week the president was in hollywood and touting the entertainment industry. they're exempt from a lot of this. so you can't have it both ways. the economic driver and they're exempt from it. >> we can have it both ways. this is america and those are our values. we should have it both ways. >> we'll get them educated so they can fill out an application. >> their families can get off food assistance.

>> get talent, get the skill, contribute to the economy and move up the economic ladder. that's what we need them to do. >> we have to invest in their public education to do that. >> government doesn't create jobs. it is the private sector. >> government does provide six disfor oil company, business subsidies. >> we have to invest in education. >> the government should do that. >> absolutely. but at the state level. let the money follow the kids. right now it doesn't. we don't need more big government in washington, d.c. we need the money following the kids. >> okay. well, i wish we had more time because this is an important topic and there was so much that i wanted to ask and i'm sure our viewers want to learn so much more about how we can close that income and equality gap. i want to thank representatives barbara lee. to go facebook or twitter to weigh in on our fire back question. do you think the minimum wage should be increased in 63% of you say yes.

37% say no. another time when i wish we could talk about the fireback question. the debate continues online at cnn.com/crossfire as well as facebook ask twitter. from the left i'm stephanie cutter. >> from the right, i'm newt gingrich. join us tomorrow for another edition of "crossfire." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, preventing another tragedy. >> the greatest protection ultimately would be an armed presence in the school. >> as we approach the one-year anniversary of the tragedy at newtown, what can be done to prevent future sandy hooks? >> plus, vice president joe biden in china. can he stop what our allies see as alarming aggression in the east? >> this is a consequential relationship that will affect the course of the 21st century. >> new incriminating allegations about embattled toronto mayor rob ford. >> yes, i have smoked crack cocaine.